Notes: The Orioles and A’s, by defeating the White Sox and Indians, respectively, leapt over the Rays, who lost in Texas. While Baltimore and Oakland have identical 70-57 records, the O’s would host the wild-card game by virtue of their 26-20 intra-division record being superior to the A’s 19-18. The two clubs play each other Sept. 14-16 in Oakland.

–Excellent column by my Post colleague Joel Sherman today, who details that the Dodgers asked the Yankees about CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. The Yankees held no interest in dealing either player.

But what about Alex Rodriguez to the Dodgers? Interestingly, as of yesterday morning, the Yankees hadn’t yet placed A-Rod on waivers, but that’s almost certainly moot. It’s hard to see A-Rod waiving his no-trade clause mid-season, and would the Dodgers really want A-Rod at this juncture, when he’s rehabilitating his left hand injury? Nevertheless, given the already outrageous claims that the Dodgers have made, I’d like to see what they actually do when A-Rod’s name gets run up the flagpole.

In any case, Joel focused on the more realistic notion of a winter trade sending A-Rod out West. And it struck me, viewing this scenario through the prism of this past week’s Red Sox-Dodgers trade, that A-Rod’s situation with the Yankees could be far worse.

Yes, the Yankees would unload A-Rod and his contract in a blink, because of their desire to get under the $189 million threshold in 2014. But as we sit here in Year 9 of the A-Rod-Yankees relationship – and as we view just how badly the Red Sox wanted to dump the bad fits that Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez had become – we can say that, at least A-Rod and the Yankees kinda like each other.

A-Rod will never be a perfect fit anywhere; if baseball’s sixth tool was alienating people with arrogance and awkwardness, then A-Rod would’ve been a six-tool player in his prime. Yet he has calmed down considerably in his advancing baseball years. He largely avoids making controversial statements, and he has served as a mentor to the likes of Robinson Cano and (gulp) former Yankee Melky Cabrera. He and Derek Jeter often converse pleasantly in front of others; Jeter no longer looks at A-Rod with the same face of hatred that David Banner wore in this episode of “The Incredible Hulk,” when he regained his memory and realized that he was helping the very man, reporter Jack McGee, who was trying to destroy him.

Many Yankees fans will never fully embrace him, yet there is nothing approaching the animosity that had developed toward Beckett, for instance, in Beantown.

So A-Rod is an albatross because of his contract, but call him an affable albatross. For now, anyway. If a trade to the Dodgers actually occurs this winter, the Yankees might even miss him a tiny bit.

However, there is a way the Mets could frame a third-place finish that would not necessarily be part of a ticket-selling push, but rather serve as a lesson: “Look, we finished ahead of two teams that spent far more money than we did and have far more odious contractual commitments on their books. We know that we need to spend more to field a perennial contender. We’ll get there. But it starts not with profligate spending, but with smart decision-making. The Phillies and Marlins are where they are because they couldn’t outspend their stupidity. That’s what happened to us, too; raise your hands, Mr. Bay and Mr. Santana. We want to get out of that place. We’re almost there.”

That wouldn’t motivate fans to whip out their credit cards. Yet any straight talk from Mets management would be greatly appreciated by their ultra-aggravated fans.